By Linda Day Harrison, theBrokerList, Chicago, IL

When creating an Internet presence and building a new public website, the first thing you’ll want to do is identify a domain name as close as possible to your company or property name. Don’t bother searching in multiple locations for your potential site’s name — you’re too busy for that! Go straight to a search engine like namechecklist.com.

Create your website on a platform such as WordPress. Put in the time, effort, and money to design and plan the site. Consider paying a designer to create a logo and graphics. Add content to the site, such as (in no particular order):

1. About Us
2. Services Properties and/or Listings
3. Team
4. Executive Bios
5. Contact Us
6. Affiliations
7. Blog
8. Testimonials

After all this work is done — content is added, graphics are selected, colors are finalized, fonts, headlines, and widget boxes are chosen — you (and only you, as you spearheaded the project!) can send out an email to everyone in your contact list to say, “Look! We have a new website and blog!” Yippee!

But then, if you’re like most website owners, the site sits, and sits, and sits. From time to time you might add a blog article, or update listings. If you’re smart, you thought to add a live feed of listings from another database service provider that’s integrated into the site. When new employees come and go, maybe you’ll update the site when you get around to it.

Don’t fall into this trap! Your website should be a living, breathing, active representation of you and your company. Make time to promote on social media. Push out your blog articles to LinkedIn and to all of the LinkedIn groups you belong to (maximum of 50 per person!). Encourage your team to tell all of their contacts about your new website or blog. Ensure that the domain URL is on every single thing you publish or post. Place simple share buttons on your pages or blog posts via the admin tools. Anything less, and you’re virtually guaranteeing that no one will ever share anything about you, your firm, or your great content.

While you’re at it, let your employees have access to sites like Facebook, and encourage them to keep an up-to-date LinkedIn profile (the modern-day business card). Your people and properties will be found and links will be out there in Google, where they can be discovered or exploited by new clients. If your website is found, that means traffic! Traffic is numbers, and numbers mean increased chances that you’ll meet a new client, tenant, or even find a buyer.

And get a Twitter page. Twitter is neither complicated nor difficult to navigate. It will bring t-r-a-f-f-i-c to your firm, which is only a problem if you plan to remain under the radar. Remember, you want every client to see your name in the media or an online content stream.

A guest post by Samantha Harvey, General Waste Collection, Lancashire, United Kingdom

With sustainability becoming more important to the general population, there is an ever-increasing necessity to provide eco-friendly properties. The rise in popularity of green technologies has led an industry that was once seen as expensive and niche-based into one that has competitive prices for many aspects of the building process. With the decreasing initial price disadvantage combined with the always present efficiency positives, the green movement presents a good deal of incentive to implement more eco-friendly resources. With the majority of greenhouse gas emissions coming from buildings, incorporating sustainable processes in homes is vital for curbing the impact of global warming.

As a property manager, the bottom line is the strongest guide as to how a property is to be managed. Incorporating green strategies can be a very productive aspect of property management. A major incentive for providing eco-friendly aspects to homes are the tax breaks, whether on a local or national level. Whether it is windows, heating systems, or solar panels, incentivized government programs are out there waiting for people to take advantage. Along with tax incentives, the strategies of increased efficiency provide savings in the operating costs of residential buildings. In cases where utilities are included, the bottom line effect can really add up. If utilities are not included, the potential renter will, or at least should, recognize that their own personal utility bills would be lower. This provides a key advantage over non-green buildings where potential customers will be left to wonder how inefficient their potential home might be.

Taking advantage of perceptions, good and bad, provides another opportunity for property managers to keep their bottom line strong. Creating an eco-friendly living environment can be a powerful marketing tool that keeps the properties filled. As previously stated, the green movement has been initiated into the mainstream consciousness. The reasons behind this are twofold: the growing recognition that the Earth’s resources are being taxed by its people and the need to change that, and the cost-effectiveness of more efficient models of building. Taking advantage of this newly invigorated social consciousness by offering people what they want creates a boon of public relations goodwill that will keep property managers busy with potential customers.

One final eco-friendly strategy that can help your bottom line is creating a paperless interface for your customers. Monthly statements, contracts, leases, and receipts are all things that can become paperless. This allows you to save paper for only the most necessary of jobs. This is an effective way to kill two birds with one stone. With the rise in technology, from phones to tablets, more people are keeping digital records, so why not join in this movement and save some money on paper along the way?

With competitively priced green technologies, tax incentives, the obvious efficiency benefits, and the public relations goodwill, updating and expanding properties into more eco-friendly operations provides a strong compliment to your bottom line. Plus, it is becoming increasingly evident that it is the right thing to do. It seems to be a rare occasion where the right thing and the profitable thing travel the same arc, but the eco-friendly property is one of those cases!

By Linda Day Harrison, theBrokerList, Chicago, IL

Touch It Once is a mindset, a philosophy, and a management style. It is the antithesis of procrastination coupled with a smart way to work by stopping redundant behavior dead in its tracks; both of which are the enemy of any efficient and well run organization.

The concept is simple – Touch It Once (TIO). Did you ever notice that each month the cycle is the same? Collect rent, send out 5 day notices, process accounts payable, cut checks, etc. So if this is something you know that’s going to happen, why is it so painful? Then at the end of the 30 day period, the cycle is going to start again! How can you not be prepared?! It happens every 30 days!

If you think about how the concept of TIO comes into play it will change the outlook you have on your business. Every time you do a task, think about how you can do that task perfectly. Save the process, document the task, and create a road map for others to follow that same format or system. The next time the task is required, anybody can use your process, learn how to execute, and actually accomplish it with the least amount of error or redundancy.

So how do you as a property manager or leasing agent “touch it once”? For me it was about checklists and document packets. These checklists include a new resident checklist, a move out checklist, a new vendor checklist, a monthly owner’s report checklist, etc. Every single time a new resident moves in or move out we have a series of steps and actions to take. Of course things change constantly, so the checklist was set up as a packet and saved as a .pdf document. Inside the packet are all of the forms, letters, and actual physical checklists for each item that needs to be accomplished. The checklist is clipped to the top of the file and it travels through the office circulating and being executed as required in anticipation of that new resident move in. So, if there is a form, letter, orientation, or document to be signed for any new resident, just open the New Resident document and all of it will be there. Simply hit print and go! This same concept can be accomplished in a similar fashion via online forms, but the system and procedure is the same – Touch It Once!

TIO is the most empowering tool a property manager can employ. TIO provides training, checklists, procedures, processes, and standards in everything you do. Remember, you are on a cycle. The cycle is daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually, semi-annually, etc. What you want to do when you start to breaking the tasks down is to perfect the task, document the task, and train folks on how to perform the task. You are now building processes.

Those processes can be saved and used over and over like templates. After achieving these cycles and documenting these processes for one year, you now have an incredible roadmap of excellence for all to share. Now combine the power of TIO with today’s technological tools and you have a multitude of ways to execute this legacy of knowledge, which will result in the right tools being shared to your entire department, property, portfolio, or company.

One process that we developed has to do with new vendors. Each time we receive a call from a vendor or service provider we simply send them to our website to click and download our New Vendor Packet. It includes a cover letter, checklist, insurance standards, vendor profile form, all IRS forms, etc. Every single time this task arises, it is only takes seconds of time. It is also paperless and effortless. In addition, we now have a company-wide standard that everyone follows and knows what to expect. The other important element to this process is the image of you and your company. When meeting a new resident or interacting with a potential new service provider, your system is organized and systematic. When you give each process the care and proper attention to set it up and only touch it once, you are showing the world how much you respect, not only your experience with them, but also your organization, your clients, and your people.

Imagine if all employees understood the concept of TIO? If each employee were exposed to this philosophy, the power would multiply even faster and be an exciting approach to management and excellence.

TIO can result in comprehensive checklists, quality control, time saving templates, video training, orientation of new hires, new business tools, etc. It is also the least disruptive way to organize, train, and develop standards on a company wide basis, with everyone contributing. Start off trying it with one task. Remember, do it now and Touch It Once!

Today online property management software company Buildium, LLC launched its new Property Management IQ website. The interactive site uses humor to measure people’s knowledge of property management terms, regulations, and best practices.

“Property management is a serious business, but a little sense of humor can go a long way,” says

Buildium Co-Founder Michael Monteiro. “With that in mind we created Property Management IQ – an interactive site that promises to make you laugh and maybe even raise your property management quotient along the way.”

After completing the test, property managers receive a score and a badge they can display on their website. They can also share their results on Facebook and Twitter and are automatically entered to win an Apple iPad 2.

To take the Property Management IQ test, go to www.propertymanagementiq.com.

By Phoebe Chongchua, SD Real Estate Help, San Diego, CA

It’s the kind of job that requires a lot of patience, and today being a property manager also requires keeping up with technology. Property managers work with many different personalities, which requires them to have some important skills that help make the job of managing properties a success. But they also need to keep up with where their future tenants are spending their time–online.

Get Social.

Interestingly, social media and technology play a critical new role in the job of property managers. Now, tenants and prospective tenants aren’t just stopping by to see a property; instead they’re on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms learning about rentals in your area before they have even set foot in the neighborhood.

Through these and other social media sites, not only is information shared but also reviews and feedback about properties are posted. That’s why today many companies are hiring social media people to “actively” listen to the sites. It’s part of online reputation management and it’s good a way to see if and what people are sharing about your properties.

As a multi-media video journalist, I am often asked about how to respond when there is a negative remark about your company, product, or property. Should you roll up your sleeves and “fight back”? No. Often this will cause the person who is negatively commenting to start a full-blown war. The campaign can get very ugly and turn into an over-dramatized sensation.

My suggestion is to counter the attacks by addressing the issues in a positive manner and not necessarily right after the person leaves the comment. How do you do this? Article writing and posting on many sites is a great way to get the information you want out about your properties.

So, for instance, if there’s a negative comment about your property being poorly kept up, writing a post and showcasing with photos the well-manicured property and its unique attributes is a better way to convey your message.

Resist the urge to fire back a comment that sounds defensive. Instead, think of the negative comment as a question: “How well maintained is your property?” Then write your post. Of course, this is assuming that you are keeping your property in good shape!

Give it to them Quick.

Quick Response (QR) codes are showing up everywhere. How important are they to the property manager’s job? Very. These little codes can help carry vital information to prospective tenants, when used appropriately.

QR codes are used by people with smartphones. They download a free app and then scan the code which is linked to a website page. You can create a QR code very easily and for free using online resources; just search for free-sites to create your code.

The QR code is meant to provide information to the user in a quick fashion. In order to be useful, the information must be valuable. So, if you link the QR code to a video that gives good information about your property, that’s useful. If, on the other hand, you embed a faulty link or the link just opens to a generic website, the QR code can be seen as nothing more than advertising–useful to some, but others may feel it was a waste of their time to scan the code.

Placing a QR code on your brochures, business cards, and marketing materials with helpful links to very valuable information such as frequently asked questions, videos of your properties, etc. can be a big help for prospective tenants.

Pay rent online.

With so many people doing online banking, getting your residents to pay their rent online makes sense. There are many advantages such as the ability to schedule payments, automatic monthly debits, no hassling with paper, and being able to pay rent from anywhere instantly.

If you’re finding that your tenants aren’t as hip to signing up for the online rent-pay option, try using sign-up incentives such as a gift card to a local merchant’s shop or do a drawing from a pool of all the tenants who signed up that month.

Technology is nothing more than tools that can help streamline and better brand your business. However, it’s how you use them that determine how successful you’ll be as a property manager.

By Geoff Roberts, Buildium, Boston, MA

As many of you know, Buildium has been publishing a property management industry blog since 2008. That said, it wasn’t until earlier this year that we gave the blog a face lift, a new name and domain, and hired a staff of contributing writers from across the US and beyond (Hi Jo-Anne!). In doing so we’ve seen a significant increase in our readership, and we hope that you’ve found our All Things Property Management blog to be a valuable resource for your property management business.

I’m very excited to announce that All Things Property Management is now also a contributor to Zillow Blog. Zillow, which publishes hundreds of thousands of rental listings across the country, will be publishing selected articles from the All Things Property Management blog. Some articles will then be syndicated to other sites, including Fox News, Yahoo, US News and World Report, The Street, and a variety of other sites. While All Things Property Management speaks directly to an audience of professional property managers and others interested in learning more about managing real estate, Zillow Blog is focused more on an audience of renters. With this in mind you’ll see that our articles have been rewritten to address renters – by educating property managers and residents alike, we’re moving the industry towards manager-resident bliss – one blog post at a time.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Salvatore Friscia, Ben Holubecki, Peter Lamandre, Colin McCarthy, and Jo-Anne Oliveri for all of their hard work and contributions to the All Things Property Management community. Salvatore Friscia recently had his article Renters: How to Get Your Security Deposit Back published on Zillow Blog and Ben Holubecki’s article 10 Tips in Communicating With Your Landlord was published on Zillow Blog and US News and World Report.

We’re excited to keep growing All Things Property Management and are striving to become the best property management industry blog on the web. Keep on tuning in!

By Peter Lamandre, Better by Design Realty, Scranton, PA

In many ways property management is all about being prepared; prepared in case of fire, prepared for emergency repairs. What happens when you become sick or injured? How prepared are you to run your business when you can’t actually be there?

Recently I severely injured my back and contracted an infection at or around the same time, as if one wasn’t bad enough. Fortunately, for the most part, we were very prepared.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the staff. I have a great staff, all of which are cross trained in some areas so that they can step in and fill in some of the gaps. Their flexibility was a key factor in enabling our company operations to continue to run during my down time.

One of largest reasons we were so prepared was almost every aspect of our business is in the cloud. Our management system, phone system, document storage, forms, etc can all be accessed anytime, anywhere.

Buildium was a huge benefit – being able to access all of my files was very helpful. Like any tool it is only as good as you choose to make it; a key decision for us several years ago was to scan all documents into the system so the online files mimic the hard paper files.

We also utilize offsite document storage in the cloud. We use SugarSync; they offer monthly and yearly subscriptions as well as a free version which gives you 5 GBs of storage. There are also ways for you to earn free storage space. With SugarSync you can back-up office files and retrieve them remotely on a mobile device or another computer. We do a large amount of offsite back-up so we do use one of the paid plans but to start out the free plan will more than suffice.

Likewise, our phone system is completely cloud based – it’s called RingCentral. It provides all the services of a top end back office PBX system, while also providing text alerts, voicemail messages that can be emailed, automatic faxes for applications or frequently requested info, and a mobile app that allows your caller ID to be masked so all outbound calls come your office even if you use your cell phone. You can also retrieve your voicemail from the cell phone app. From the office calls can be transferred to any phone, creating the appearance you are in the office. Calls can also be auto-forwarded to your house, cell, or any other number you wish. RingCentral supports multiple extensions, toll free numbers, and multiple local numbers. There are pricing plans to fit any size office, and the rates are very competitive.

None of these services were chosen to assist in the event that I was taken out of the business – they were all chosen based on value. Could they handle our needs, were they reliable, where they easy to use, would my staff revolt about my next “new tech toy” application (as they like to call anything techie I roll out)? None of us like to think about not being around (unless it is vacation, which can still be nerve racking). But from time to time it becomes necessary to step away and these tools can make things a little bit easier.

By Peter Lamandre, Better by Design Real Estate, Scranton, PA

Whether your portfolio is made up of large complexes or scattered smaller units, performing unit and site inspections is an important value-added service that a property management firm provides to their clients. It is also one of the more time consuming aspects of our daily jobs. Performing the inspections requires scheduling with tenants, documenting observations, and follow-up on deficient items. It is also crucial to have the historic inspections readily available to reference changes in conditions.

Over the years my firm has tried numerous variations on a rather routine process; from the traditional pen and clipboard documenting observations on standard forms to utilizing digital cameras and even portable video.

Recently we have been testing and are just rolling out a new process for conducting inspections. A fully digital and paperless inspection process; allowing for a swift method to memorialize observations by following a consistent process.

With the advent and proliferation of smartphones and tablets in the marketplace this process is becoming more streamlined. As an avid iPhone user the apps we use are iPhone/iPad based. However searching though your application marketplace I am sure you can locate apps for windows and android based devices as well.

A few helpful apps that you may want to look are:

Tap Inspect. Tap inspect is a free app that allows you to customize the inspection process and deliver customized reports directly to your client from the field. You can include photos of the property and comment on your observations. The report is then transferred to a PDF and archived on their website. The reports are branded with your logo and name for identification. The app is text driven with a vast library of boilerplate comments. The app is free however there are pricing plans for the delivery and archiving of the reports.

Field Agent. Field agent is a free app that is more photo driven — a unique feature of Field Agent is the ability to overlay previous photos of the same area to compare condition. You also have the option of annotating the photo with comments. You can add some customization to the comments but as the saying goes “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” You also have the option of archiving your reports for future use.

Property Inspector. Property Inspector is a paid app which is a simple but effect interface — everything is rated thumbs up, OK, or thumbs down, with the ability to comment on an area and take a photo. You can customize the sections by changing the grouping of a specific area — for instance if you would rather have the lawn and grounds as a separate category or place them as a sub category of external features you can.

iInspect. iInspect is another free app. The advantage to this app is it’s extremely simple — if you are not looking for all the bells and whistles and just want to dabble in this type of inspection process it is a great way to get used to the whole concept.

All in all whatever route you take, inspections can prevent small problems from becoming big ones later on and you should have a consistent process to record and store inspections. They not only can come in handy during eviction cases, but can also help prove that you have taken reasonable care in the management of your portfolio should the need arise to defend that position such as during insurance claims.

Digitizing your reports can save you staff time and money, and help create a professional image for your firm.

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By Peter Lamandre, Better By Design Real Estate, Scranton, PA

I was out and about this week and while on the interstate I pulled behind a contractor that had a QR code on the back of their tow trailer. While I applaud them for embracing an emerging technology, it occurred to me that that may not be the best application of a QR Code. Some of you are probably wondering, “What the heck is a QR Code?”

QR code is an acronym meaning Quick Response code. It seems as though QR codes are the latest rage in advertising. But what are they? Without getting into the computer advantages of using QR codes versus standard bar codes; they are in essence a 2D bar code allowing you to pack a large amount of information in a small space.

The QR code was invented by a subsidiary of Toyota in the mid 1990s for tracking parts during shipment. The format of the code allowed machines to quickly scan and track parts on a conveyor belt and route their destination accordingly. Fast forward 20+ years and with the proliferation of smartphones with cameras what was once a way to track machine parts is now the hottest new way to pack more advertising into smaller spaces.

Would you rather see this…

FOR RENT

3 BR, 1BA ½ double $xxx/mo plus utils call for details XYZ Management, Inc maybe with a picture, a phone number perhaps a website, etc.

or

A single image that when scanned will instantly display up to 4,296 characters of text, a website with multiple photos, perhaps even a virtual tour, a ready to send SMS message requesting a showing, a ready to dial phone number, and many other virtually limitless options.

The QR shown in this post will bring you to this blog, but it could have just as easily brought you to you a map or any other website.

As mentioned above the max QR code is 4,296 characters but the larger the amount of data you store the more complex the QR becomes and the larger it needs to be printed in order for it to be scanned. If this occurs you may want to post the info to a website and link there or simply rethink the use of the QR code. The key to any technology is proper use.

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that I did not think the contractor’s application was the best use. Whereas a QR on a vehicle is rather cool it was more the location & size I that took issue with; not to mention the safety issue with trying to scan while driving… YIKES!!! The fact is many areas don’t allow you to have a phone in use while driving. The QR on the vehicle was too small and would require you to be stopped directly behind the person in traffic to even be close enough to scan it and even at that distance I fear it would not be able to be scanned. It seems the only way to scan the code in this case would be to step outside your car and walk up to the trailer. It should have been bigger and in a location that could be easily visible without much trouble. I will outline a few creative & practical ways to utilize QR codes below.

Business cards

I recently just placed an order for new cards and decided to add a bit of tech on my cards by placing a QR code that links to my contact info to easily enable someone to reach me. When networking you want your business cards to stand out and what better way to start a conversation and be memorable than to have a QR code on the back of your card.

Rental Signs

Some apartment complexes print signs monthly or every time a new special of the month changes. Rather than constantly paying to have new rental signs printed with your hook you can place a QR code on the sign with a link to your latest rentals or specials.

Newspaper ads

Stand out from the crowd and place QR in your ad, linking to all your rentals with full color photos and more text then you could ever afford to place in the paper. I would be sure to place a line similar to this at the bottom of the ad. “Scan the QR code above to view our rentals or call XYZ Management, Inc @ (555) 555-5555” in case they reader doesn’t have QR.

Okay so now you know what QR codes are and you have some handy ways of using them for marketing purposes. But how do you get them?

QR Readers

Here are some QR Readers I use: Google Goggles, Beetagg, Scanlife, AT&T Scanner.

QR Generators

Google offers a QR code generator. I don’t find it that user-friendly for a basic user but it has some cool advanced features.

Kaywa offers a more user-friendly version.

There are many more but those two should get your started.

With these tips and tools you are well on your way to reduced advertising costs and showing your owners that you embrace technology. Also keep in mind your audience – QR codes clearly appeal to a more “techie” crowd and may not be well suited for all your rentals.

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You like to stay ahead of the curve technologically when it comes to your property management or real estate business, and you’re not oblivious to the growing popularity of smartphones and other mobile devices. A few of your competitors have already made the switch, allowing them to stay up to date and in contact with all aspects of their business no matter where they go. So what’s holding you back? These links will get you on the road to mobile success.

• REALTOR Magazine provides a great smartphone buyer’s guide, specifically meant for buyers within your industry.
• Blackberry has even made a point of specifically targeting the real estate industry — learn about how their products can help you improve your clients’ satisfaction.
• Which smartphones are real estate professionals using? Why are they purchasing in the first place? What features are they using? This REALTORS survey will show you how your peers are using mobile technology.
• As your business is increasingly on your smartphone, your phone’s security becomes a major concern. This video, featuring Real Data Management’s Peter Boritz, provides some tips on protecting your phone and your business.

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